Jan 2, 2019 - Learn how to remove Adobe Flash Player update virus from Mac and thereby prevent the browser from being redirected to rogue software.
The Adobe Flash Player browser plugin lets you view video and animated content in Firefox. This article has information about testing, installing, updating, uninstalling and troubleshooting the Adobe Flash plugin.
Note: The Firefox Software Update feature does not update installed plugins. See the Adobe Security bulletins and advisories page for information about security and stability issues affecting Adobe Flash Player and other Adobe products.
Table of Contents
- 4Troubleshooting
Visit Adobe's Flash Player Help page to see if the Flash plugin is installed and working properly. If it tells you that Flash is not installed, see the next section on how to install the latest Flash plugin.
The Flash plugin automatically updates itself by default. If Adobe's Flash Player Help page says that Flash is outdated and you don't want to wait for the automatic update, you can update Flash manually by downloading and installing the latest version from Adobe.
To check if your installation of Flash is up to date, visit Adobe's Flash Player Help page. If it says that Flash is outdated, you can update Flash by downloading and installing the latest version from Adobe.
- Go to Adobe's Flash Player download page and download the Flash installer. Caution: Adobe's download page may include a checkbox for optional software (such as Google Chrome or McAfee Security Scan) that is selected by default. If you do not clear the checkbox before downloading, that software will be installed on your computer when you open the Flash installer.
- When the download has finished, close Firefox. Click the Firefox menu , then click Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen, then click Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu , then click Quit.
- Open the Flash installer file you downloaded and follow the instructions.
Note: If you are having problems with the Flash installer from Adobe's download page, you can use this Flash Player installer link to directly download the full installer.
- Go to Adobe's Flash Player download page and download the Flash installer.
- Click the Firefox menu , then click Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen, then click Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu , then click Quit.
- Open the file you downloaded (i.e. install_flash_player_osx_intel.dmg).
- In the Finder, open the Install Adobe Flash Player.app to run the installer, then follow the installer's instructions.
- Go to Adobe's Flash Player download page.
- When prompted, save the file (i.e. install_flash_player_'version'_linux.'processor'.tar.gz).
- Click the Firefox menu , then click Exit.Click the Firefox menu at the top of the screen, then click Quit Firefox.Click the Firefox menu , then click Quit.
- Open a Terminal window (in Gnome, click on the Applications menu, select Accessories, and then select Terminal.)
- In the Terminal window, change to the directory where you saved the file you downloaded (e.g. cd /home/user/Downloads).
- Extract libflashplayer.so from the file you downloaded with the command tar -zxvf install_flash_player_'version'_linux.'processor'.tar.gz.
- As the super user, copy the extracted file, libflashplayer.so, to your Firefox installation directory's plugins sub-directory. For example, if Firefox is installed in /usr/lib/mozilla, use the command sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and then enter your super user password when prompted.
For instructions on uninstalling Flash, see Adobe's help page, Uninstall Flash Player - WindowsUninstall Flash Player - Mac OS.
Note: Running Adobe's uninstaller will remove Flash from all browsers where it is not built-in, including Internet Explorer. You will be prompted to reinstall Flash when you visit a page that requires it, such as Adobe's Flash Player Help page.
Flash plugin not working
If Adobe's Flash Player Help page does not show that Flash is working even though you have installed the latest version, your Flash plugin may be disabled in the Add-ons Manager. To make sure that Flash is enabled,
- Click the menu button , click Add-ons and select Plugins.
![Adobe flash update mac chrome Adobe flash update mac chrome](/uploads/1/2/5/2/125287688/444617222.jpg)
If Flash is disabled, select Ask to Activate in its drop-down menu.
Flash plugin not working on certain websites
Firefox can block the Flash plugin on certain websites, if using it would cause security, speed or stability problems. For more information, see The Flash plugin is blocked on some sites by default.
Flash works in Internet Explorer or Chrome but not in Firefox
There are three different types of Flash Players: an ActiveX version for Internet Explorer, a Chrome version built into the browser and a plugin version for Firefox and some other browsers. If you want Flash to work in Firefox you must install the plugin version, as explained above.
'Activate Adobe Flash' prompts
The Flash plugin is set to 'Ask to Activate' in the Add-ons manager by default. Click on the 'Activate Adobe Flash' message to allow the Flash content to load (if it doesn't, reload the page and try again). For more information, see Why do I have to click to activate plugins?.
The Adobe Flash plugin has crashed
If you see this message instead of Flash content, see Adobe Flash plugin has crashed - Prevent it from happening again and Adobe Flash protected mode in Firefox.
Unresponsive plugin warning
Firefox will show you a warning dialog if the Flash plugin is taking longer than expected:
See the article Warning Unresponsive plugin - What it means and how to fix it for solutions and workarounds.
Cannot view full screen Flash videos
See Flash videos won't play full screen.
Playing Flash videos makes Firefox hang
If Firefox stops responding or if the Flash plugin hangs or stops working when playing Flash videos or games, try these solutions:
- Pause or stop Flash in other tabs. You may need to close those tabs.
- Update Flash. See the Installing or updating Flash section above for instructions.
- Disable hardware acceleration in Flash settings. See Disable hardware acceleration in Flash for details.
- Update your graphics drivers. See Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL.
- Disable Flash protected mode. See Adobe Flash protected mode in Firefox.
Other Flash problems and solutions
- Your Flash issue could be caused by an extension, theme, or hardware acceleration in Firefox. See Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems to narrow down the cause.
- Other solutions for general audio and video problems are listed in the Fix common audio and video issues article.
- If Flash content does not work, acts strangely, causes errors, or if you see a notice that you need to update Flash even after installing the latest Flash version, uninstall and reinstall Flash.
Based on information from Flash (mozillaZine KB)
A variant of the Crossrider adware has been spotted in the wild. It’s Mac Flash malware and different than the original breed because it installs certain configuration profiles to stay persistent (viaMalwarebytes).
[2017 McAfee Threat Report Shows Spike in Mac Malware]Mac Flash Malware
This strain of Crossrider comes in the form of a fake Adobe Flash Player installer. Pretty typical for macOS and nothing we haven’t seen before. But this one is a bit different. As you install it, it automatically installs Advanced Mac Cleaner, which uses Siri’s voice to tell you it found a problem.
But behind the scenes, it locks Safari’s homepage to a Crossrider domain, and can’t easily be changed. This is due to a configuration profile, which is a method that IT admins use to control the behavior of Macs in bulk, like in a company.
This configuration profile forces Safari and Chrome (if you have it installed) to always open a page at chumsearch.com. You can’t change it via Safari preferences, but you can find the profile by going to System Preferences > Profiles.
How to Remove It
Luckily, removing it is fairly straightforward and involves a couple of Terminal commands. If you’re on macOS 10.12 or earlier, use the command:
Although this works on macOS 10.13, another command may be better:
Then, look for an unfamiliar profile. In this case, the identifier is com.myshopcoupon.www. On macOS 10.12 or earlier, type:
On macOS 10.13:
Other than that, the malware doesn’t seem to do much damage to your system. Additionally, for most users fake Adobe Flash Players are easy to avoid. Flash really isn’t needed anymore, but if you do need it, make sure to only download it from Adobe’s official website.